Of Sweden's two native automakers, Saab and Volvo, there's no question Volvo has fared the better of the two. Although both were scooped up by Chinese investors, Volvo's corporate parent of Geely has taken a much keener interest in the success of the company, and enabled Volvo to develop its next-generation platforms and technologies. Almost all of Volvo's future models will be based of the company's Scalable Product Architecture, from the S60 sedan all the way up to the next-generation XC90 SUV, which is expected to be the first model on the new chassis, replacing its 10-year-old predecessor.

Besides much more extensive use of high-strength steel, from seven percent in the current XC90 to 40 percent in the next-generation model, the SPA will also have a revolutionary new electrical architecture consisting of four "domain masters" of vehicle dynamics, safety, car body, and infotainment. Any of the "masters" can be connected to any unit within the car, with a single nerve system interconnecting all of the subsystems.Among some of the advanced safety systems SPA will offer are adaptive cruise control with steer assist, nighttime animal and human detection and braking, higher-speed object detection, and autonomous parking. Future possibilities enabled by the technology used in Volvo's SPA include vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. The company's goal is for nobody to be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo by 2020.